


We Met at Midnight

by Ghost_Rose96



Category: Impractical Jokers
Genre: AU, Cute, Edgy, F/F, F/M, M/M, Sad, dude I don't even know I just really loved the idea when it came to me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-11 10:27:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11712519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost_Rose96/pseuds/Ghost_Rose96
Summary: Yes, this story does have real people in it. Yes, there are people that don't exist in this story, as well. No, this is not another story where two people suddenly fall in love and everything goes just swimmingly. This story is filled with tears- some happy, some sad. It has an alcoholic who gives up on life, a few comedians, one of which falls apart backstage at the news of something others would be thrilled about, and a blue haired boy who has to choose between his real life and the one he keeps hidden from those he cares about. It's filled with the stories of 6 friends and how they come to find themselves. They are familiar faces and unknown names, and this is their story.





	1. 1

Staten Island, filled with noises you'd never hear anywhere else, scents you'd never really get used to even after years of living here, and people you'd never forget even though you only met once. Ah, yes. Staten Island, the "B-Side" of New York. You would never suspect that it could ever be so peaceful and yet at the same time it's chaotic. I suppose you'll find a way to relate to that anywhere, really. But, here, it's special because this is where we start our journey as we follow 6 people along with a few random blokes around as they start to see that the Big City isn't all that great...for some.

Numb. That's an appropriate word for how Alice was feeling at the moment. She had just finished off a half bottle of Jack Daniel's as she stared at her laptop screen trying to get inspired. Usually when she had writer's block the alcohol would help get the words out. Her old friend, Max, had once suggested she take some kind of drug like Adderall. While it did help her get a few full chapters down, it was all complete rubbish. Some nonsense about a boy who turns into a dog at the first of every month to find a rabbit that stole his hat. Alice had been trying for a good hour to write at least a couple sentences. Her dead hazel eyes were now red around the iris from staring at the screen for so long and they burned.

She rubbed a hand along her face as she groaned. "Come on, man," Alice said to herself. "You got this, you got this," she continued to reassure herself although she knew it was all a lie. If writing is her passion, then why was it so difficult in these moments? All she wanted was to be like her favorite author, J. R. R. Tolkien. His stories and poems gave her so much happiness growing up. Alice Robinson is not ashamed of being a huge geek nor should she be. Her favorite poem of Tolkien's is 'To The Bottle I Go' as it practically describes her now. 

Her brain felt like it was cramping. "Oh, god," she whined as she screwed her eyes closed. The story she was currently working on was about zombie apocalypse in the late 20's. She got the idea while she watched her friend Joe play some video game that she hadn't cared to get the name of. The main character was a stay at home mom of twins. Her name was Dot Bethany Smith, married to Archie Martin Smith. Their children were James Alexander and Jonathan, "5 years old and just the sweetest boys anyone had ever known".

Currently Alice was stuck halfway through the fifth chapter, right where one of the twins goes outside at night and see a zombie coming towards him. The author just couldn't think of what happened to the boy; Does he live or does he die? Alice decided that it was time to take a break. She saved the work and then shut her laptop, placing it on the table next to the couch. The brunette laid her head back on the cushion, taking in the comforting feeling. 

Almost as if on cue, her brother and their friends came inside. "Oh, shit...It's Friday," Alice laughed to herself. Every Friday they all met up to hang out just anywhere. It was usually just the 6 of them, sometimes one person wouldn't show up or someone new joined. But in the end, it was always them against the world. James (or Murr) hopped over the couch and landed next to the only woman in the room. "Hey, Ali. You doing alright?" he asked with his sweet smile. She peeked one eye open and looked at him. Alice sat up straight and looked at him with both eyes now. She forced a smile and tried to make her hoarse voice sound somewhat decent by clearing her throat. "Oh, I'm doing just fine. Thanks...And, uh, how are you?" 

Murray eyed her suspiciously. Something was definitely off about her. I mean, sure they all knew about every single one of each other's quirks and all that, but this was different. "I, uh, I-I-I've been great. Yeah, the show just got renewed for a third season," he answered with a subtle proudness. You see, James, Joe, Sal, and Brian were all on a show called "Impractical Jokers" together where they made each other do embarrassing, but hilarious challenges. 

They both stood up and walked to the kitchen, having enough of the awkward silence. There they saw all the guys. Joe, the blue eyed man who would do anything to make his friends laugh. Brian/Q, the long haired geek with big ol' heart and a hard shell. Sal, the stand up comedian with eyes you could get lost in for days. Charlie, a huge music fanatic with dreams of traveling the world, as well as Alice's twin brother. Then, there was Alice and Murr walking into the group. "Hey, Alice," Sal and Q said almost in unison. Alice giggled at the greeting(s). "Hey, guys," she waved. 

Alice stood next to Charlie, showing just how average her height really was despite the nickname "Shorty" from Sal. "So," Charlie started. "What, uh, what are we going to do?" He looked across the kitchen at Joe, then his sister as they are basically the leaders. The two gave each other a lost look. "Well, what do you think, Ali?" Joey asked. She shrugged, "I don't care, honestly. Just as long as we can all hang out. I-I really need to get out...so," she nervously chuckled. The past few days had been partly tough on her, due to her job having cutbacks she was fired on Monday, someone broke into her car Tuesday (thankfully nothing was stolen), and now today her story was what was bothering her. Honestly, all Alice needed was to get outside of the apartment and be around those who brought her joy and comfort. "Well, we could just go out to Central Park and people watch," Joe suggested. Brian and Alice laughed together at the thought of how creepy it sounds. 

"What?" Joe asked, making a hilarious confused face. After Brian sobered up, he just explained it seemed a bit awkward. "Well, what do you suggest?" he asked. Sal bounced lightly on his toes, showing his excitement. "Guys," he said in a whispered shout. They all looked at him- clearly he was stoned. "What is it, Ja'Crispy?" Murray asked him, giggling like a child. "Guys, we should go to the ice skating rink," he finished with child like glee. They all looked at each other in disbelief and astonishment. "NONE OF US KNOW HOW TO ICE SKATE!!" Joe shouted. 

They all laughed, and went on their way to the ice rink after all. They took Charlie's mint green Volkswagen Van that was (of course) covered in stickers. Technically, it was Alice's but she had her own small black 2012 Acura. 

As Charlie drove them, he nudged Murray who sat in the passenger seat with his elbow to get his attention. "What's up?" James asked. "Can you.. Can you pull out my gloves from the box by your feet, please?" "Sure." He handed him the gloves as Charlie parked van. "Thank you so much." He took the black fingerless gloves and slipped them on. The six friends exited the van, walking to the door that Brian held open for everyone. "Thank you, Q," Alice said with a sweet smile. He returned the smile. 

The group got their own skates, then made way to the ice rink. All of them had a difficult time- except for Murr. Sal grabbed on to Joe's whole arm, taking them both down. Q and Alice were holding on each other's arms for dear life, but eventually getting it. Charlie wasn't having a very difficult time, he just felt awkward because he noticed his ex girlfriend across the ice; with another man. Which was weird to him because they just broke up a day ago. Charlie shook his head to get out of his feeling and thoughts. 

Alice noticed her brother sulking about the outlines of the ice. "Hey, Q, I'm gonna go check on Charlie," she whispering in his ear. She moved away to leave. "O.K. Catch up with you later, then," he replied, touching her shoulder. 

Alice slowly skidded to a stop with a nervous look on her face since she was scared of falling down. "Char-Charlie," she gasped, out of breath. When she held on to his arm, Charlie snapped out of it. 

"What?" 

"What's wrong?" Alice asked concerned. 

Charlie looked over his twin's shoulder. That's when Alice followed suit. Suddenly, she knew. She turned back to Charlie. "Dude," she started, pulling him into a hug. "Do you want to leave?" "No," he answered. Charlie cleared his throat. "Yeah? Well, why don't you stay with me, then." The two agreed on it and went to catch up with the others. 

Brian was the first to notice the twins behind them. "Hey," he said, leaning down to Alice. She smiled up at him. "How is he?" Brian asked. "He's okay. Just saw an old ex here." At that, Brian lifted his eyebrows. "Wow." 

They all continued gliding across the slick ice, pushing each other around and laughing. Sal and Murr had challenged one another to see who could do the coolest tricks, while the others "judged" them. In the end, Murr won. The group returned the skates and left. 

Charlie drove again, James switched with Joe in the passenger seat. Q, Sal, and Alice sat in the second row, James in the very back. "You guys want to stop by Ronnie's?" Sal asked. Ronnie's is the dive bar where Charlie and Alice met Sal and Q together. After that Sal had invited the twins to a party in the hopes of hooking up with Alice. Instead, they ended up meeting the rest of the gang. That was college, now they just laugh about it. 

"I don't know, man," Joe started. "I'm not feeling it."

"We could always just go to a drive through or something instead," Q suggested. Pretty much everyone agreed. Alice was the only one who hadn't answered, as she was lost in her thoughts. Sal nudged her with his elbow. "Hmm?" she mumbled. "White Castle sound alright?" he asked. The long haired brunette looked around at the guys. "Oh, uh, yeah. I'm not really hungry so it is all you guys." She smiled, but it was a dim smile. Charlie didn't need to see her eyes, he just needed to hear her voice to know something was wrong. 

Q noticed too.


	2. Chapter 2

  Brian looked at his friend of 20 years, seeing the lifelessness in her eyes. "Alice," he subconsciously whispered. Her head snapped towards him. Q's eyes grew like saucers. "I-I-Um, sorry...Nothing," he lied. In truth, Brian knew that Alice had been going through a lot lately, that she had become an alcoholic at some point in their friendship, and that she had depression. But, he also knew that Alice Robinson is a strong, badass, beautiful woman who could make the devil cry if she wanted. But right now, the look in her eyes made Brian want to cry.

 

It's not like Q hasn't been depressed, it's just a little bit worse when someone you love and care so much about is going through it. He looked out the window to try and clear his thoughts, leaving Alice confused. She looked at Sal as if he would have the answers, but even he was lost. They both just shrugged. 

While he stared out the window, Brian's big chocolate brown eyes scanned all the people they passed as they drove back to the twins' apartment. He noticed a couple holding hands, smiling. It made him cringe. While he was capable of love, he didn't like that cheesy "look-at-us-we're-so-happy" kind of love. Joe reached behind his seat and hit Brian's leg. "Dude, what are you doing?" Joe asked. Q frowned, showing he was confused. "What?" he asked. "We've been trying to get you to answer us for a couple minutes," Alice said softly. And there it was, that damned look in those damned eyes. The look that he could get lost in forever, but others simply saw them as the eyes of Alice Robinson. She blinked, he came back down to Earth. 

 

He grunted as he shifted in his seat. "No, I'm fine... Sorry," Brian lied. Alice nodded even though she knew something was wrong. Charlie announced that they were home, and everyone jumped out of the van. As they walked up the stairs to the second floor (the elevator has been broken the past couple of months) Brian had heard a familiar voice; A woman's voice. "Mallory?" Brian breathed out. He fought the urge to run up, but couldn't just leave. The rest of the group looked at him, all concerned. 

"Brian, don't go up there," Sal said in a stern tone. He and Brian made eye contact for a solid minute, before they heard a door shut. They all assumed it was safe to go upstairs now that it was dead silent. Sal kept Brian next to him, the others were walking in front. Eventually, the group reached the twins' door.  Brian slumped against the door. It had been days since he had a decent amount of sleep and it showed. 

  While the others went to turn the television on or raid the kitchen for food and beer, Brian stayed there trying not to fall asleep. "Dude," he heard a soft voice say. "Hey," he replied. Alice raised her brow at him. "You should sleep," she stated. The long haired man scoffed. "Nah, I'll be fine." Inside, though, he knew that he should sleep. Alice, of course, knew and would not give up easily.  

  Alice couldn't stand the look in his eyes. The look that said, "I need sleep," so she grabbed the much taller man's hand and pulled him away from the crowd of people to her room. Sal noticed and decided to take this opportunity to make a joke. "Daaaaamn, Brian and Alice? Whoo! Did not see that coming. Have fun, you crazy kids!" he called. This of course drew the attention of everyone else to the two brown haired people. Brian rolled his eyes, Alice flipped Sal off. Joe cackled. 

  Alice opened her bedroom door and lead him to her bed. She stopped in front of it, turned to face Brian with her hands on her hips. "You obviously haven't been sleeping. You can sleep in here as long as you need and I'll make sure the guys don't bother you. Also, you're lucky you left these clothes here the other day." She pointed to some neatly folded clothing of Brian's on the top of her dresser. Brian looked back at her with a confused expression. "If you decide to shower," Alice quickly clarified. 

  Brian nodded and thanked her. "You're too nice for the shit you put up with, kid," he had told her as she was walking out. This made Alice stop in her tracks. She usually looked down as she walked around, but this lifted her head up. "When you've been through Hell you start to realize that no one really does deserve that. That's why I try to be nice to everyone." She forced a half smile, then shut the door. 

  Brian stood in the middle of the small room. Surprisingly it wasn't as messy as Alice's life, minus the few books laying on the floor under her bed. The tall man looked around the room, noticing an old picture of Alice and himself. Brian smiled to himself. "Good memory," he mumbled. He turned back to the bed, sat on it and kicked his shoes off. It was weird at first, but eventually he fell asleep. As he dreamt, the smiled stayed on his face. 

  What Brian didn't know was that when Alice closed the door, she stood by it, wanting to go back in there and pour her heart out to him. Of course, she knew that if she did it wouldn't end well for either of them and her heart would be broken. So, she toughened up and swallowed the pain of love. When Alice walked back out the living room, Sal apologized immediately, saying he had no clue that Alice actually was in love with Brian. 

  The long haired woman's head snapped towards her brother, fire in her eyes. "Did you tell them?" she shouted in hushed tone, not wanting Brian to hear her. Charlie looked and felt extremely guilty. "Listen, I'm sorry," he started to defend, but was cut off by Alice's glaring. "You're an asshole, you know?" she stated. "Ali, don't get too mad at him. Sal and Bri are the only two idiots that didn't know," Joe spoke up. "W-what?" Alice was so shocked that James and Joe had already known about her crush on Brian. 

 James bit his lip from laughing. This whole ordeal was quite entertaining but he knew the second Alice saw him laughing at her reaction, her heart would break. James cleared his throat, starting to get up and walk over to his frustrated friend. Putting his arms around her form, he calm her down. "It's okay, Brian doesn't know," he whispered. Alice's heart started to calm down as she eased into the comforting. She sighed. "Thank you, Murray." 

  When the two pulled away from each other and everything was back to its calmness, so Sal suggested putting the telly back on. Everyone agreed and sat on the couches as all the tension in the room eased. 

  Brian had woken up in Alice's bed still, 10 hours later. He grumbled as he checked the bedside clock to see it was 1 o'clock in the morning. He sat up quickly, getting a head rush. Grumbling some more on his way to the door, he stumbled out to the living room. The only light was the one in the vent above the stove and the television. Brian rubbed his eyes wanting to make sure that he was actually seeing a person curled up on the sofa and not just his imagination. "Ali?" he called out. Her head popped up from the behind the arm of the couch. "Morning," she joked. Brian smirked at the response. 

  Brian decided to sit next to his friend. Alice suddenly smelt the sweat that was seeping through his grey shirt. "Brian," she started, hiding her face from her nose down behind her blanket. The sweaty man looked at her curiously. "Yeah?" "You, uh, you know I love you, right, bro?" Alice was trying to keep this from being as awkward as possible. "Yeah, of course. I love you too, Ali," he replied, small smile on his features. "Okay, well, I am saying this out of love, then. You should take that shower." 

  Alice bit her lip, knitting her brows together in fear that she had hurt his feelings. "Oh," he laughed. "Yeah, sorry. Um, yeah. No, you're right." They both chuckled nervously. It took a minute before either one said anything. They both just reveled in each other's company. Alice made a risky move by scooting a little bit closer to Brian. She bit her tongue, quite literally, as she thought about what she was doing. Brian noticed the shifting going on next to him, but stayed quiet. Both had been curious about where this was going. 

  A couple seconds later and Alice was right next to Brian, the guy she'd been head over heels for since they met in college. Her hair fell over her face on the right side. Brian looked over out of curiosity and moved her hair behind her ear without thinking. Alice bit her bottom lip as she felt a blush rise to her cheeks. Alice chuckled nervously again. They made eye contact, on accident of course, but neither made the effort to look away. It felt like the whole room had been closing in, but in reality it was just their faces moving closer to one another. 

  They stopped merely centimeters away from the other's face. It was dead silent in the room around them, T.V. now just white noise. "Ali?" Brian asked in breathy voice. "Yes, Brian?" Just as Brian was about to make a move, Charlie's door swung open causing the two on the couch to move apart quickly. 

 Charlie noticed the quick movements from the corner of his eye and turned his head while he walked to the kitchen. "Sorry to bother you two. Just getting some water," he commented. Alice looks over at Brian who had stood up and started walking. "It's all good. I was going to take a shower right now, anyways," he nonchalantly said. 

  Alice scoffed, half smirking. 

  Brian made his way to the bathroom after he stopped in Alice's room for his clothes. Letting the warm water run down his body, he replayed everything that had just happened. "Ugh, you're an idiot," he quietly scolded himself. He had the chance to kiss the girl and he blew it! How may more chances did he need? "Next time," he promised himself. Next time he had the chance, just him and Alice alone, he would kiss her. As long as the time was right.


	3. Chapter 3

It was the moaning that kept Joe from having a decent sleep. That, and the headboard banging on the wall. He tried putting a pillow over his head to block out the woman (who's name he didn't catch when she and James walked into the apartment) as she all but screamed his best friend's name. James' groans could be heard next. Hopefully they were done.

  This had been going on for the past few weeks. James would bring home a new girl, sometimes they were a fan who "got lucky" with the smallest Joker or just some random girl from the bar. Joe rolled around to face away from the wall, when suddenly it got quiet. So quiet, in fact, that Joe started smiling. 

  "Oh, fuck- James! Yes!"

"For fuck's sake," Joe growled, smiling vanished from his face. He climbed out of bed, groaning. The poor man just wanted to catch up on some much needed sleep, but with Murray being the horny ferret he is it had been impossible. It felt like James had been pulling the loudest girls on purpose. Joe pulled on a sweatshirt and some dark jeans that fit his long legs perfectly. Next were some socks and his sneakers. He grabbed his phone, wallet, and keys. 

  "Maybe Brian's up," Joe muttered under his breath as he walked out of the noisy flat. Pulling his phone put to check the time, he rolled his eyes. "10:55 on a Tuesday, got work tomorrow and this is what I'm doing? Screw you, Murr." Joe was irritated to say the least. 

  Of course he had brought it up to James, that it was getting a bit annoying having strange women in their shared apartment screaming James' name at the most ungodly hours of the night. Multiple times, he's brought it up. But, it must not have really stuck to his friend's mind. 

  So, here he was, walking around Staten Island at eleven'o clock, calling Brian Quinn. 

  The ringing gave Joe a sinking feeling in his stomach the longer it went on. "Please, pick up. Please," he whispered. It was with an almost desperate tone that he repeated those words. Phone still by his ear as he walked by a bar, where James most likely met the woman he was with at the moment. Joe sneered at the thought. "Hey, it's Brian," came a voice from Joe's phone. "Oh, thank Go-" "Sorry, I couldn't catch ya' right now. Leave a message, I might call back." An annoyed sigh left Joe's throat. Shoving his phone back in his pocket, Joe decided to get some food. Maybe that would help him feel better. He could try calling the others in his group of friends that might be up, too.

  There's a diner that serves italian food and other kinds of comfort food that Joe likes to go to, and it's open 24/5. He thought that would be the best bet right now. When the blue eyed Joker walked into the diner, he noticed only a couple people in there. He smiled contently, looking down as he walked to his favorite booth. A waitress with a tired, forced smile came towards him, placing a menu down. "Hey, Joey," she said, her Italian accent heavy as the day was late. "Hi, Greta. Long day?" he asked. The dark haired woman only sighed, that was all he needed to know the answer. Of course it had been a long day, it was only one hour to midnight now.

  Joe watched Greta as she placed the familiar menu down in front of him. "Ya' want some coffee? Just made a fresh pot," she offered. He nodded his head vigorously, causing Greta to laugh behind her hand. Another laugh was heard, but it wasn't one he was familiar with. Greta smiled before she turned around to get the cup of coffee. Joe, being his curious self, turned around to the source of that angelic laughter. It was one of the other patrons, and she was beautiful. Her shoulder length brown hair up in a messy bun, bronzed skin, a smile as bright as the sun. Her eyes reminded Joe of chocolate chips, making his lips curl into a cheesy smile. A sweet and warm laugh escaped her mouth again.

  Joe realized he had be staring at her for a while. He forced himself to tear his eyes from her being and back to the menu. Although, he didn't really need a menu seeing as he had been to this particular diner many, many times before and had it practically tattooed to his memory. He remembered suddenly that he should call someone and see if he could crash at their place, but as he was about to pull his phone out of his pocket, a warm sensation was on his shoulder. Joe looked up, meeting the chocolate chip eyes one again. 

  She smiled shyly, removing her hand. "Mind if I sit?" she asked. A slight Italian accent could be heard, but it was not as obvious as Greta's or even Joe's. Greta brought over the hot cup of coffee and placed it in front of Joe. He thanked her and ordered some cannoli's for himself and the angel across from him. "I'm Bessy," she said. "Joe. Joe Gatto," he replied. He offered her his hand, which she shook. Her hands were soft, Joe noticed. It made him smile. 

Minutes flew by as the two talked. The diner had been empty other than the two of them and the cannoli's they ordered long gone by now.  Pops, the head chef/owner of the diner, noticed the two were hitting it off and thought he would send them some tiramisu on the house. When the dessert got to the table, Joe looked at Greta confused. "Pops said it's on the house," she curtly explained, smiling at the two. "Oh..Oh, thank you, Pops!" Joe shouted to the chef who simply nodded his head. Unbeknownst to Joe, Bessy was watching him. She loved the way his eyes lit up when he saw the delicious dessert, the way his smile stretched across his face and that his most prominent features were his nose as well as his beautiful baby blue eyes. 

  Joe shifted his gaze back to the woman sitting across from him when Greta walked away to finish cleaning the rest of the diner. "You, uh, you want the first bite?" he asked awkwardly. Bessy smiled cheekily. "Such a gentleman," she giggled. Joe chuckled and smirked, handing her a spoon which she took. She took a somewhat big bite of the coffee-flavored custard. And at that moment, Joseph Anthony Gatto knew he found the woman he wanted to marry. 

  They continued to talk until the sun came up. At some point during the night Bessy made bold move and sat next to Joe. Joe had had such a great time talking to Bessy that he forgot about why he was there in the first place. "Well," Bessy started, a yawn interrupting her. "I better go." She smiled sadly, looking up at the blue eyed beauty. "I'll see ya' around, hopefully." Bessy stood up from the booth, wiping off any food that may have been on her clothes. Joe watched her in awe as she swiped a crumb from her sweat pants. "Yeah, let's hope so," he replied. Both of their voices were tired and worn out, but they couldn't care less. 

  Bessy was about to walk away, purse slung over her shoulder, but before she could, Joe grabbed her hand placing something in it. She turned around to face him and saw him now standing up. She looked at their hands. "Until next time, Bessy," Joe whispered in her ear. He released her hand and pulled away. 

They parted ways, Joe walking back to the apartment, Bessy driving back to the house she shared with a couple of friends. She remembered the paper Joe left in her hand before they left each other and grabbed it from her jacket pocket. The paper had Joe's number on it. A smirk crept on to her face. There would definitely be "a next time".


End file.
